ZOOLOGY. 53 



heel ; they are more hairy in winter. The ears are moderate, with short close hairs on their concavity ; the back of the 

 ear is covered with long hairs, those near the upper margin longest, and projecting beyond nearly five lines in some speci- 

 mens ; these tufts are nearly black. The tail is small, shorter than the body, moderately flattened ; the hairs rather short, 

 and, as on the rest of the body, coarse and stiff. 



Among the magnificent trees of the Cascade mountains, near the head of the Des Chutes river, 

 some new to science and all novel to us, and feeding on their seeds, were numhers of, as I at 

 first supposed, the same little pine squirrel we had so often seen in California, somewhat 

 changed, however, I thought, both in color and habits ; its color paler and less brilliant, and 

 having, in a great degree, lost the black line of the side ; in manners, far more familiar. The 

 first I attributed to climate ; the second, to his ignorance of the usages of civilized society ; he 

 not having learned that man wages a relentless war against just such beautiful and harmless 

 little animals as himself. These differences, if not specific, certainly indicated a different 

 variety. 



I was sometimes greatly amused at the antics of one of these little fellows. As I approached 

 the tree on which he sat, instead of retreating, he would sit still and scold, or even come out on 

 a branch within a few feet of my head, as though curious to examine, and determined to drive 

 away this strange animal which had invaded his solitude. Perched on the end of the branch, 

 constantly scolding and twisting from side to side, he would balance himself on his feet as 

 though about to spring upon me ; then, his fears getting the better of his valor, he would 

 scamper away and hide himself behind the trunk. Reassured by a few moments of quiet on my 

 part, he would bristle up and again rush out to the end of the limb, apparently finally resolved 

 to throw himself down upon me. This he would never do, however ; and at length, having 

 failed to produce any impression upon me by his graces and grimaces, his bluster and bravado, 

 he would scramble up the tree and into some hole, apparently in intense disgust, scolding as 

 long as I was near. 



o 



SCIURUS DOUGLASII, Var. 



California Pine Squirrel. 



This little squirrel, the Californian representative of the red squirrel of the eastern States, 

 (S. Hudsonicus ,) is quite equal to that species in activity. It is found in the evergreen forests 

 throughout California and southern Oregon, perhaps extending its range to the Columbia, 

 though we found it replaced in the Cascade mountains by another variety much resembling it, 

 but less highly colored. 



This little fellow is everywhere known as the pine squirrel, though the name is not strictly 

 correct, as it lives on almost all kinds of evergreen which furnish edible seeds. Evergreen 

 squirrel would be better, but that some hypercritical person might object to calling that ever- 

 green which was never green. The name pine squirrel might, however, be disapproved of on the 

 same grounds, as I can testify that he is far from being a wooden animal. Let us, however, 

 call him pine squirrel, at least for the present, and follow him to his haunts. 



In the forests of redwood, (Sequoia sempervirens,) on the Coast Range, north of San Fran- 

 cisco, he finds a most agreeable residence ; and among the great sugar pines (P. Lamberliana) 

 of the Sierra Nevada and the Trinity mountains he is well known, and is a favorite symbol of 

 rapidity with the epithet-loving hunters of the frontier, having, in their phraseology, taken the 

 place of chain lightning, than which he is regarded as a shade swifter. He is usually shy, and 

 frequently difficult to shoot. I have sometimes, while moving stealthily through the forest, 



